OT: Racing 2008-2009 (Spoiler Alert)

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Sat Mar 08, 2008 9:27 pm

PK, I very nearly met Murray at the autograph fence at Silverstone in '98. It was my 13th birthday and it would have been a wonderful memory, I'm sure, but I'd left to get a Damon Hill cap after my uncle had said he didn't think there'd be anyone around to sign my programme, and when I came out he'd been and gone. That's as close as I ever got, so it's a delight to hear from someone who knows that Murray really is as he seems.

Damon, of course, repaid my faith by spinning into retirement at Brooklands on around lap 14 or thereabouts. Swine.

Anyway, the first competitive Moto GP action of the season, and a bit of a turn-up on the front row:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/65564

Presumably, as the article says, a Yamaha on Michelins is the thing to have, at least over one lap, and it'll be interesting to see how well the front three are able to stay the pace tomorrow.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 1:05 am

Very nice to see some new blood shake up MotoGP. I don't doubt that Stoner will charge to the front and probably win under the lights, but it will be fun to watch him, Hayden and Rossi move through the faster qualifiers toward the front.

Lost in the understandable enthusiasm over the performances by Lorenzo and Toseland was the third-place qualifying job by Yank Colin Edwards. I hope The Texas Tornado sticks it up Yamaha's ass by being a genuine pain in the ass for the satellite Tech 3 team after being tossed unceremoniously from the factory team. Hard to blame Yamaha, as Lorenzo appears to be the real deal, but the Tornado is far from scrap.

CAN'T WAIT for this race tomorrow. 6 p.m. (ET) here in the States on Speed. Check it out, boys -- it's some of the best balls-out racing in the world.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:03 am

Jeezus i'm so fixated on the start of the Formula One season I forgot about MotoGP.

Where's the race taking place? I'll be checking out the race later tonight when it's ready for download.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 12:46 pm

Rodster wrote:Jeezus i'm so fixated on the start of the Formula One season I forgot about MotoGP.

Where's the race taking place? I'll be checking out the race later tonight when it's ready for download.

Qatar, under the lights. First night race in MotoGP history. Bikes trump Bernie, yet again.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:50 pm

Wow bikes under the lights looks very cool.

I guess Rossi is regretting switching teammates as Lorenzo scored a strong second place finish while Rossi salvaged 5th. I believe his teammate was running Michelin's while Rossi chose the Bridgestone's.

Casey Stoner looked solid after a slow start. It should even out when the series goes back to Europe and the tracks don't favor the Ducati's like Qatar.

A side note, Dani Pedrosa had one hell of a start.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Sun Mar 09, 2008 11:51 pm

Double post, sorry.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 9:29 am

Rodster wrote:Casey Stoner looked solid after a slow start. It should even out when the series goes back to Europe and the tracks don't favor the Ducati's like Qatar.

True that Qatar has an obscenely long front straight, but any track with even a decent straight will favor Ducati -- at least for now.

Hayden will have a pneumatic-valve engine probably for the third race, at Estoril, while Edwards and Toseland also are supposed to get the same pneumatic-valve engine as the Fiat Yamaha Team by then. Toseland and Lorenzo were quickest through the corners all weekend, so Toseland could become a significant factor once he gets increased grunt from the pneumatic-valve engine.

Toseland impressed me. I loved his fairing banging with Lorenzo on Lap 2. No bullsh*t there! Lorenzo was superb, but the guy wasn't a double 250cc World Champion for nothing.

Still, the most impressive rider of the night to me was Dovizioso. He's on a small, one-bike team, yet he managed to stay with the big boys all night and passed five-time MotoGP World Champion Rossi with aggressive moves on the last lap.

Stoner's margin of victory was deceptive. This was a very exciting race up front for the first 10 to 12 laps, and the three-bike battle for fourth provided plenty of entertainment over the remaining 10 to 12 laps.

Good show!

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:25 am

I agree Toseland impressed me but IMO the night belonged to Lorenzo as he outclassed the Legend. He was quoted as saying he had an opportunity to take on Stoner but decided against it because he was nervous being in his first race in MotoGP and did not want to do something stupid, smart kid. He also said that he was physically zapped towards the end of the race and it had an effect on his lap times.

I think Hopkins had a solid night as well after joining his new team and it's obvious his bike isn't where it needs to be performance wise. Plus he has one helluva girlfriend.

I was disappointed with Rossi's performance after b*tching all offseason about his bike, his teams commitment, Edwards and his tyres. Switching from Michelin to Bridgestone did not help him one bit.

The 2008 MotoGP season without a doubt has some serious up and comers and Rossi needs to shut up and perform. Maybe i'm being to harsh on him but more is expected from the Legend.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 12:25 pm

Rodster wrote:I think Hopkins had a solid night as well after joining his new team and it's obvious his bike isn't where it needs to be performance wise. Plus he has one helluva girlfriend.

Wife, mate, wife. Sorry, she's off the market for you.

Kawasaki and Suzuki are going to have long years. Kawasaki, especially. Suzuki was quick early in testing in January, but Team Green has been out to lunch the entire preseason.

Rodster wrote:I was disappointed with Rossi's performance after b*tching all offseason about his bike, his teams commitment, Edwards and his tyres. Switching from Michelin to Bridgestone did not help him one bit.

Agree 100 percent. It appears that Rossi simply refused to acknowledge that Stoner was better than him last season and apparently so far this season. He deluded himself into thinking it was all tire, and that's really insulting to Stoner.

Stoner and Capirossi both had the Ducati-Bridgestone package last season, and Stoner destroyed Capirossi. But there was a belief that Capirossi is getting long in the tooth, which is true, so some thought maybe the arrival of young star Melandri would narrow the gap between teammates. Not even close. Stoner is slaughtering Melandri so far, both in testing and last night.

The MotoGP world needs to wake up and realize that Casey Stoner is a freak. He is a rare talent, like Rossi, Doohan, Roberts, Rainey, Lawson and Agostini. I think Ducati team principal Livio Suppo summed it up best after the race last night:

"Casey is unique... there's nothing more to add to that. He didn't even make the smallest mistake today and once again he showed why the number 1 is on his bike."

What makes Stoner even more extraordinary is the way he can ride through problems and keep the throttle twisted wide open even when the back of the bike is bucking like a rodeo bull. His bike control is exquisite.

Rodster wrote:The 2008 MotoGP season without a doubt has some serious up and comers and Rossi needs to shut up and perform. Maybe i'm being to harsh on him but more is expected from the Legend.

I don't think you're being too harsh. Rossi could blame the distractions of the "wrong tires" and his tax situation last year, but this year he's on the tire he wanted, and his tax problems are solved. It's put-up or shut-up time for The Doctor.

Take care,
PK

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 7:21 pm

pk500 wrote:Stoner is slaughtering Melandri so far, both in testing and last night.

I enjoy watching Moto GP but I'm not all that clued up on it, so I'm hoping you can help me with this. The BBC commentary team (yes, I know, I should be watching Eurosport...) were saying that Melandri has no confidence in the Ducati at the moment, and that he's having terrible trouble understanding the front end of the bike on corner entry and hanging on to the rear on exit. While Marco isn't in the absolute top bracket, there's no doubt he's a perfectly capable rider, so how can he be having so much trouble with it? We see similar domination in cars often enough, but never to the extent that one man has two seconds a lap over his team mate in equal machines.

Lorenzo's ride was tremendous but with his pedigree, and riding what looked like a very good package, I suppose he was always going to be somewhere there or thereabouts. Dovizioso and the Tech 3 riders (don't forget that Colin Edwards wasn't so far off the back of things at race's end) seemed really impressive to me too.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Mon Mar 10, 2008 10:27 pm

GB_Simo wrote:I enjoy watching Moto GP but I'm not all that clued up on it, so I'm hoping you can help me with this. The BBC commentary team (yes, I know, I should be watching Eurosport...) were saying that Melandri has no confidence in the Ducati at the moment, and that he's having terrible trouble understanding the front end of the bike on corner entry and hanging on to the rear on exit. While Marco isn't in the absolute top bracket, there's no doubt he's a perfectly capable rider, so how can he be having so much trouble with it? We see similar domination in cars often enough, but never to the extent that one man has two seconds a lap over his team mate in equal machines.

Adam:

It is a bit odd, considering that Melandri comes from Gresini, the only Honda team to use Bridgestones last year, to the Ducati/Bridgestone package yet still struggles.

Melandri's struggles would be more understandable if he was coming from a Michelin-shod bike, as the two companies' tires have very different characteristics. Very much like the last years of the tire war this decade in F1 between Michelin and Bridgestone.

These are the three reasons I can guess that Melandri is struggling with the handling:

1. The Ducati has a ton of grunt, so Melandri may be suffering more wheelspin and a twitchier rear end than when he was on a Honda. Stoner rides a bucking bronco of a bike as well as anyone in the world. Melandri probably isn't used to the bike moving around that much.

2. There may be some sort of difference in the geometry of the Ducati chassis compared to the Honda that is screwing up Melandri.

3. Realize that top teams in MotoGP will tailor their bikes around the desires of the No. 1 rider, again like Formula One. Melandri entered a Ducati team that tweaked its championship-winning bike in 2007 to a machine even more suited for Stoner.

That preferential treatment was one of the reasons behind Hayden's rough season last year with Repsol Honda. The team built a bike around the puny 5-2, 110-pound frame of Pedrosa, with a smaller fairing, instead of its defending World Champion Hayden. That infuriated Nicky, who thought he deserved first say on development due to his status as World Champion. But when the company paying the team's bills -- Repsol -- is Spanish, I wouldn't be surprised if Repsol put pressure on HRC to build a bike that could help a Spaniard win the world title, not an American. You don't see any cases of Repsol at local auto parts stores here in the States.

For an example of how Pedrosa is Repsol's boy, take a look at the company's home page: http://www.repsolypf.com/es_en/

Pedrosa's runner-up finish at Qatar was the lead story for the entire corporate Web site! Something tells me you wouldn't have seen The Kentucky Kid as the lead story if he finished second at Qatar.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:51 am

Column about the Stoner-Melandri at Ducati topic:

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/ ... ucati.html

Like most people in the MotoGP world, this column refuses to acknowledge how good Stoner really is. I just don't get it.

Take care,
PK

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 9:54 am

Interesting speed trap numbers from Qatar:

>>>At Losail, Marco Melandri's Marlboro Ducati was the fastest bike through the speed trap at 334.4kph/207.66mph. Rossi hit 326.2kph/202.57mph on the 'pneumatic' Yamaha, Pedrosa 325.6kph/202.2mph, Toseland 322kph/199.96mph on the valve-spring Yamaha.<<<

Damn, Ducati still has a big edge in power.

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 10:13 am

pk500 wrote:Column about the Stoner-Melandri at Ducati topic:

http://www.crash.net/motorsport/motogp/ ... ucati.html

Like most people in the MotoGP world, this column refuses to acknowledge how good Stoner really is. I just don't get it.

Take care,
PK

Until you mentioned it I also took him for granted, seriously. I'm now rethinking that and joining the small chorus of those who say he's the finest and fastest two wheel racer on the planet. And he has a real cute umbrella girl/wife.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Wed Mar 12, 2008 8:28 pm

pk500 wrote:Like most people in the MotoGP world, this column refuses to acknowledge how good Stoner really is. I just don't get it.

I wonder if some of it has to do with the inevitable consequence of his being two whole seconds a lap faster than a guy like Marco Melandri. Alright, the '08 Ducati is bound to be made to fit Stoner, but he wasn't even first choice to ride the '07 bike and look what he did to Capirossi on that. People might want there to be some hidden reason for Stoner being so far up the road from the other Dukes because if there is none, then he's just crushingly dominant, and appreciating the sort of brilliance that leads to dominance is quite different from enjoying it. In other words, folk want competition, and if Stoner might be good enough to run away from all comers then the odds of there being competition aren't too good.

Thinking out loud, and probably wrong; it's probably that people just can't bring themselves to acknowledge how good he is, like there should be some rule against being Casey Stoner.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:48 am

Well at least his boss is saying it:

Ducati boss praises 'unbeatable' Stoner

Ducati team boss Livio Suppo has labeled world champion Casey Stoner as "almost unbeatable" after his dominant showing in the season opener in Qatar.

The Australian Ducati rider started his title defence in perfect fashion, going on to win MotoGP's first night race, crossing the finish line over five seconds ahead of Jorge Lorenzo after a slow start to the race.

"Casey did an amazing job as he always does," Suppo told the official MotoGP website. "At the beginning of the race it was tough but when he found his rhythm he was putting in very good laptimes, one after another.

"Every time Casey goes on track he is almost unbeatable, so we have to say thanks to him first of all. The bike is still working well, the top speed is still there and ride-ability is still there, fingers crossed.

"It's a good package, it's the package of a World Champion and I think Casey proved again why he has number one on his bike."

In contrast to Stoner's brilliance, teammate Marco Melandri continued to struggle for pace, finishing in 11th position out of 16 riders.

Suppo reckons Melandri needs to build up his confidence in the bike before he is able to get close to Stoner.

"I think Marco really just needed to race," said Suppo. "Finally after the halfway point in the race he put together some decent laptimes and I hope this will help him to build confidence in the package he has.

"He knows the package can win races and world championships so he must just believe in the package that he has."

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 7:21 pm

ITV's F1 website is streaming live coverage of free practice 1 from Melbourne - a mate of mine in Indiana tells me Speed only show FP2, and that he's been able to view the ITV stream no trouble. No commentary, and sometimes no sound at all, or indeed any video, since it seems ITV have forgotten to build a website that works when many people at once view it. Anyway, link:

http://itv-95.vo.llnwd.net/d1/broadband ... fault.html

The Red Bull is just as ugly in motion as in stills. Yikes.

LATE, IMPORTANT EDIT: You'll need to be using a UK-based proxy server for that link, since ITV limits viewing to those inside the UK. I didn't know this when I posted the link, and my mate in Indianapolis didn't mention it. He uses http://www.capella1.co.uk/ apparently, though I never have so I don't know if it's any use. Sorry about that.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 8:18 pm

Adam I clicked on the link and it says people outside the UK can't view it.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Thu Mar 13, 2008 10:37 pm

Rats. The stream was pretty bad throughout and disappeared totally for 15 minutes so you missed very little - I'll have to ask my mate in Indiana what he was doing to view it, though I know he was looking for some other feeds too so I might have got my wires crossed somewhere.

Edit: Sorry mate, my fault - he used a UK-based proxy server, apparently. If it's worth the trouble to you then go for it - he used http://www.capella1.co.uk/ though I should point out that having never heard of it until now, I can't vouch for the quality and reliability of it all.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 5:36 pm

watched it on speed tv Their F1 team where great as always and Hobs already had matchet and Varsha in bits fighting to announce and keep a straight face at the same time, great stuff, if your up to date with your old time english sayings that is.
Its going to be a great first race i feel with all the mistakes these guys are making without TC and a controled engine break it could be wide open.
Force India car looks nice too and not too shabby a performance so far.
Looking forward to tonights session, and it seems they tweaked the rules for the last qualy session , down to 10 mins with race fuel on board so instead of 10 mins of parade laps and 5 mins qualy like last year it will be an all out 10 minute blitz of hot lapping.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:19 pm

Jimmy, you're right: Hobbo is worth the price of admission alone. I loved his comments about the Honda mechanics' green pants and how he calls Massa "Phil Massa."

It was great to see cars fishtail exiting corners again, and it's obvious that the drivers are struggling to cope with engine braking not controlled by engine mapping. Big fun!

I was very impressed by Webber's pace in the Red Bull. Don't know if its the buzz from racing at home, the lack of driver aids dovetailing with his style or improved form for Red Bull, but he looked good.

I love these Far East races. I return home from soccer tonight just about the same time qualifying starts. Kick up my aching legs, crack a Labatt Blue and watch F1 cars at the limit.

Life is good!

Take care,
PK

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 6:35 pm

Formula 1 this weekend boys !!!

Who do you have as favorite for this weekend? I still think Kimi will win it although his times went in the tank in the second practice session which is troubling.

GB_Simo · Post by **GB_Simo** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:28 pm

Rod, I'd be surprised if Ferrari managed to magically tweak so much time back out of their car between sessions. I'd be betting on him having had plenty of fuel in the tank, and probably betting on him to win if I was a gambling man. I'm looking forward to seeing how competitive Red Bull really are (even DC was 5th in session 2 and he's hardly renowned for being stunning over one lap), Toyota are further up than I'd thought and Fisi was higher in a Force India than he managed in a Renault last year.

The gap between the top four cars and everyone else in session 1 was a bit disheartening, though. Hopefully that can be accounted for with fuel and different programmes; we'll see in a couple of hours.

Rodster · Post by **Rodster** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 7:34 pm

Makes sense Adam. Alonso took 6th in the first practice. Something tells me he might be on the podium.

My preference would be:

1) Kimi
2) Hamilton
3) Massa

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Fri Mar 14, 2008 8:15 pm

There will be two races in F1 this season:

-- Ferrari vs. McLaren
-- The leader of the mid-pack

The gap between those two races will be massive, at least a half-second per lap, if not more.

Take care,
PK